Howdy.

[scout3801]

Found this site by accident, but glad I did.

I live in Hilo, Hawaii. I've set up some raised beds, which are doing so-so, learning to compost the regular way, and doing some worm-composting as well. This year I'm hoping to add some more raised beds, get some chickens this Summer, get my fig trees transplanted, and possibly start on some aquaculture/aquaponics projects.

My wife and I are also raising three of the most stubborn children I've ever known. Barbarians, each one.

If someone could explain to me what an "allotment" is, I'd apreciate it.

Aloha,

-Charles

[Shirley]

Hi Charles

Great to meet you - I'm guessing it is a little warmer in Hawaii right now than it is here in Scotland - it's snowing again here this morning.

Laughing at the barbarian children - I've got three children too, although one is almost 20 and would no doubt complain if I called her a child. My other two are boys and are 11 and almost 3.

http://www.allotment.org.uk/

In the United Kingdom, an allotment is a small area of land, let out at a nominal yearly rent by local government or independent allotment associations, for individuals to grow their own food. This could be considered as an example of a community garden system for urban and to some extent rural folk.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotment_(gardening)

FIGS - we tried to grow one of those - the chickens and geese ate it and it didn't survive too well (we lived in Herefordshire at the time which is further south and somewhat warmer) - I don't know whether one would survive up here unless it were in a greenhouse.

Love to you and yours.

[ina]

Hi Charles, and welcome to the site!

You must be the first member from Hawaii - this site is getting more and more exotic by the day. Anything from Sweden (with currently more than a metre snow, I believe) to wherever it's warm...

We are not predominantly Scots, although it might look like that because the first two replies you get are from Scotland! But this might be a sign that yes, it's snowing again, and we can't get out of the house at the moment. Having more snow than usual this winter.

My father planted figs once (in Germany, about 30 years ago). We did harvest a couple one particularly warm and sunny year - and then nobody dared eat them because they were so precious, so they rotted away! Here you would definitely need a greenhouse. Pity, because I love them, too.

Looking forward to hearing more about life in Hawaii!

[glenniedragon]

Glad you found us! Welcome!
Hawaii- whats yor climate like? we have quite a few antipodean respondents on the site are you more tropical than they are? do you have marked seasonal changes? or is everyday like Hawaii-five-O (the only Hawaii culture the majority of brits of a certain age have been exposed to!)

kind thoughts
Deb

[hedgewitch]

Hello and welcome to the forum

[woolcraft]

Hiya Charles. I look forward to hearing from sunny Hawaii. Sue

[Millymollymandy]

Hi and welcome to the site. It will be interesting to hear some more about being self-suffish in Hawaii! Definitely our most tropical member!

[scout3801]

Thanks for the welcome!

The state of Hawaii has a lot of variety. Oahu, which has Honolulu, our largest city, and Waikiki, our most well known tourist area, are pretty much what you see on Hawaii-5-0. I think the show was mostly filmed in and around Honolulu. It has beautiful warm weather all year, a couple of weakly defined rainy seasons, with high temps in the Summer up around 34-36 C, and low daytime temps in the Winter down around 22C.

I live in Hilo, which is on the Big Island of Hawaii (the state is named after the Big Island), and here we have a lot of variety because we have altitude. It's tropical in my area, lots of rain, with Summer highs typically around 32C and Winter lows down around 15-16 C. Which doesn't seem cold, but most houses here don't have any environment control, no air conditioning and no heating, outdoor temps and indoor temps are pretty much the same. So on really cold days, around 13C, you get kind of cold. Or maybe I've just lived here too long

In the areas surrounding Hilo, you have warmer (and sometimes wetter) weather to the North and South, then as you towards the center of the island, you gain altitude, and it cools down pretty quickly. On Mauna Kea, our tallest mountain, they have snow fall most winters, though often it doesn't stick.

Right now we're in the middle of a fairly rainy period, mild flooding. Some sort of mildew recently wiped out my tomato plants, and the few fruit that were left have burst. Such is life.

The bonus gardening here is that you have pretty much a twelve month growing season. Unfortunately with no seasons you have pretty substantial insect populations all the time as well. You're constantly fighting the bugs to get stuff to grow.

Allotments look pretty interesting. I don't know how well it would work here, because so much of the land doesn't have topsoil (bare lava rock), but probably there are alternatives to soil that would work. I should ask about.

Aloha,

-Charles

[gunners71uk]

greetings scout
hawai five 0. now that brings back memorys welcome
BOOK HIM DANNO !!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

[ina]

low daytime temps in the Winter down around 22C.


So on really cold days, around 13C, you get kind of cold. Or maybe I've just lived here too long

22C a low temperature? Gosh, we are lucky if we get that on a really hot summer's day!

Yeah, 13C is a bit cold if you are sitting around in it. And I suppose you don't have the kind of supply of woolly socks and jumpers in the wardrobe that I have... My living room is on average 15C in winter. But then, I'm kind of crazy, too stingy to turn the heating up just for myself, trying to save the planet at all costs. (I do turn the heating up for visitors, though - just in case somebody reads this and decides never to set foot in my house!)

[Shirley]

makes mental note to take extra jumper when going to visit Ina!! Actally I do prefer cool to heat.

[ina]

Just give me plenty of warning, so I can get the heater going... And I have loads of thick, warm, hand-knitted jumpers to lend out! And extra socks, too!!!

[Wombat]

G'Day Charles,

Welcome to the site, sounds like a nice setup you have there!

Hilo...........was that where they had the Tsunami back in the '50s?

Nev

[scout3801]

Hilo...........was that where they had the Tsunami back in the '50s?

Yes, in '59 or '60, I can't remember which. Destroyed the whole downtown area. IIRC, they rebuilt a bunch of businesses in a different area, but eventually they re-established the downtown area back where it was originally. I don't know if there was any logic to that.

When we moved here we had several things to take into account. North of Hilo is the safest from natural disaster, but it's more expensive and a bit more of a drive to get into town. So we settled on an area that's high enough that we don't have to worry about tsunami, but low enough that it's unlikely that an eruption from Mauna Loa, our active volcano, would reach us. We hope

[Wombat]

Wow!

Helluva decision to make!

Nev